Chapter 2
The Unremarkable Origin Story That No One Cares About
My name is Park Jeong-yong. Age 24. Profession, if I must specify—manual laborer. A perpetual bachelor.
The process of how I came to die is probably something no one would care about, so I’ll give a short summary. Let’s just say I’m living what could be called a “no-reply life.” I dropped out of high school, and I survive day-to-day by doing odd jobs. No savings, no particular plans to marry in this modern-day “Hell Joseon” (as Korea is sometimes jokingly called), and I figured I’d just keep living this way until death.
Living like this one day, a beautiful woman with dark blond hair approached me.
“I have an incredibly high-paying part-time job. Would you be interested?”
She asked.
It took less than three seconds to decide, and here’s why:
First, the woman was gorgeous.
Second, the woman was gorgeous.
And the final reason was:
“This job will require you to dedicate your entire life. However, if you succeed, you can have everything you’ve ever wanted. What do you say?”
Her cryptic words had a strange allure to them. If I were to say that it felt like some kind of dark magic, it’d sound a bit ridiculous. But looking back, I think it was just because she was beautiful. No matter how insane her words sounded coming out of her mouth, they were still far more convincing because of her mesmerizing lips.
Call me a materialist if you want. That’s fine—I am one.
Call me a sucker if you want. That’s also true.
“Alright, shall we draft the contract?”
There on the spot, I signed the dotted line and even sealed it with a blood signature. On the surface, it seemed like a regular contract.
But the moment I signed it, I felt the contract emit a sinister glow. At the time, I figured it was just my imagination.
Now, I think I’d have been far better off if it had been an illusion.
“Ahhh! Finally, I’ve fulfilled my quota! That was a long haul.”
The woman with dark blond hair had a strikingly beautiful smile that suited her pale face as she stretched, continuing to speak with a bright and carefree tone.
“Finally, I can escape this wretched place, this ‘Hell Joseon.’ Thanks to you, Candidate Warrior.”
Her casual language startled me for a moment, but I figured it was just because she had a straightforward personality. I mean, beauty forgives much.
But no matter how beautiful she was, her next action was unforgivable. Even a saint would’ve slapped her.
“Shall we go to work, Candidate?”
Still smiling brightly, she suddenly pushed me, dumping me right into the middle of the street.
“…What the—?!”
Those words turned out to be my last. Why? Because coming straight down the road was a five-ton dump truck.
With a deafening crash, something—either the truck or me—was smashed to pieces. By the time I vaguely regained consciousness, I was lying face-down, barely clinging to life.
“Oh yeah! Strike!”
The blond woman—no, the crazy broad—shouting those words with a triumphant fist pump is a memory that still burns vividly in my mind.
Yet, even as she was grinning like that, I couldn’t help but wonder: why was she crying?
“Huh?! Wha—?!”
When I came to, I found myself in a dark square.
This place dwarfed even a World Cup stadium in size—so vast that it stretched beyond sight. The sky was completely shrouded in black clouds, punctuated only by mysterious glowing lights floating around, creating enough illumination to make out objects dimly.
“Where… am I?”
As my eyes scanned around, the flickering flames of bonfires burning inside oil drums caught my attention.
People of varying appearances gathered around the bonfires in small clusters. Around me, some seemed equally bewildered, while others sat farther away, staring emptily into the flames.
I glanced down at my trembling hands.
“Did… I not die?!”
Could this be a dream? No, it can’t be.
The sensation of death was too real. Dreams are made up of imagination, and this overwhelming, horrifying reality far exceeded my wildest imaginings.
“Awake again, are you?”
“Eh?!”
A voice from behind startled me. Turning, I saw none other than the broad with the blond-dyed hair.
This was the individual directly responsible for my untimely demise.
“You… you blond-haired devil! How could you…!”
What gall she had, showing her face to me like this! My questions, my outrage, dissolved instantly into nothing the moment I locked eyes with her.
What remained was an endless well of fury. The anger that had been simmering was now erupting like an active volcano as I clenched my fists and swung straight for her face.
I don’t discriminate when it comes to gender or fighting. A punch is a punch.
“Gender Equality Punch!!”
My fist, filled with all my might, connected with a wet crunching sound.
“Ow! Shit!”
I screamed as I clutched my broken hand, which was now bleeding profusely. The reality of this inexplicable situation struck me like a bolt of lightning as I stared at her—this blond devil.
Right in front of her face, there was an invisible barrier shimmering faintly. My disbelief must’ve been visible as I blurted involuntarily:
“Wha…?”
“Please don’t get so angry. Didn’t you agree to the contract? You agreed to stake your entire life.”
The blond-haired woman shrugged nonchalantly, making excuses.
To someone suddenly thrust into a situation like this, that response is nothing short of mind-numbing.
Still calm, she glanced casually at my hand and extended her own.
“Restoration.”
A clear, crystalline glow emanated from her hand. Instantly, the light enveloped mine, and my wounds began to close over with astonishing speed.
“What… what the hell kind of…?”
I couldn’t help but curse as my hand regenerated right before my eyes in the span of a blink. It was flawless, as if the injury had never existed.
I fixed my wide eyes on her, that infuriatingly smirking face.
“Hey… Blond-haired witch. Just who the hell are you?”
I asked, attempting a serious tone. However, she squinted her eyes and retorted irritably.
“Blond witch? Why am I a blond witch?”
“Because your hair is blond. Hence, blond witch.”
While it wasn’t truly “blond” per se—it tended more toward a darker gold, a shade closer to diarrhea. …But let’s not delve there.
Seeing my firm expression, she sighed and resigned herself to the nickname.
“My name is Minerva, one of the seven subordinates serving the Great Goddess overseeing the Paradiso Continent.”
“You heard me, Blondie. Explain the situation.”
“…Alright. Call me whatever you like. Hmph.”
With that dismissive response, she began dissolving into thin air right in front of me.
“I think you need a moment to calm down. Call me again when you’re ready. Goodbye.”
And just like that, Minerva vanished without a trace.
I was left standing dumbfounded.
“What the…? What even is this? Really…”
With no outlet for my frustration, I slumped to the ground, my gaze wandering aimlessly.
The space was dark and oppressively vast, its edges indistinguishable. Scattered around the square were oil drums with small fires crackling inside. People of all kinds, some more human-like than others, sat around the fires, their gazes vacant and glassy.
It feels dangerous, like someone could lose a vital organ at the flick of an eye.
“…Wow.”
To make matters even stranger, some of the beings didn’t resemble humans at all, but rather monsters.
For a long while, I gaped at these creatures. The fantastical scene required a good amount of time to process.
“…”
“…”
Everyone had the same dead eyes, their dark gazes devoid of life, reflecting merely the firelight of the oil drums. I know that look. Whenever I look in the mirror, that same expression stares back at me—the jaded look of someone who’s seen everything life has to offer and then some. I’m so used to it that it almost makes me sick.
As I sat there in the oppressive silence, a sudden change occurred.
“Unterland Untamed Wastes! Seeking twenty adventurers!”
Boom! The ground quaked as a clay golem emerged, shouting from the center of the square. It was a humanoid earth construct similar to those in video games, standing tall and majestic.
With its appearance, an immense gate materialized, opening wide to reveal a dazzling array of colorful lights that seemed to beckon invitingly.
“Huh?”
In a flash, I sensed a sharp shift in people’s intent. A surge of determination rippled through the crowd. Eyes sharpened, and the atmosphere grew tense.
But before I could fully grasp the situation, it was already too late.
“It’s mine this time! Please!”
“I was here first, you bastard!”
“Get out of my way!”
“AAAAHHHHH!!!”
With an ear-splitting roar, a mob of people surged forward towards the glowing gate like a swarm of chicks drawn into a shredder.
The grotesque scene left me instinctively frowning at the sheer chaos. Everyone rushed forward recklessly, pushing, shoving, trampling, hitting, and destroying like a maelstrom. It was utter madness.
And amidst the chaos, I was caught in the middle.
Swept away by a massive crowd, I stumbled and fell, only to be mercilessly trampled underfoot.
“AAAAAGH!! Hold on! PLEASE STOP!! Someone, help me! HELP!!”
As the world around me blurred, that dreadful feeling of being crushed by a truck returned. Fear gripped me once more.
At the instant the panic rose, a massive shadow loomed over me. My vision darted upward, where the giant human-turtle hybrid raised his colossal leg toward me. A chill swept through me.
‘I… I’m going to die!’
The turtle humanoid’s mammoth foot drew nearer. No, this can’t end here. I won’t die this way!
Desperately, I flailed and extended my hand outward.
“Whoops. Are you alright, friend?”
Just then, another presence snatched my hand and hauled me to safety.
A man of middle age with smooth, amphibian-like legs appeared. His yellow catlike eyes glinted sideways, and the skin on his legs gleamed like a frog’s.
“Looks like you’re new here? Rough welcome for you, huh? Sorry about that.”
He brushed me off a bit as he addressed the culprit — the giant turtle man.
“Kranide! You nearly crushed this man! Come over here and apologize!”
The lumbering turtle stopped, hesitating. A towering figure, walking on two powerful legs, his head more dragonlike than turtle. The man was imposing and terrifying.
“Wha… What? I’m busy, Frog Man.”
“You need to think about the size of your body. You almost killed this man.”
“What did he do wrong? If someone gets stepped on, it’s their own fault for being too weak.”
The turtle man snorted, ignoring the warning and directing his attention towards the gate again.
“Line up for the gate, one at a time! Step up slowly, people!”
The golem guarding the gate desperately tried to manage the situation, but to no avail. The portal swallowed people as if it were a black hole, gleaming contentedly before shutting with a whoosh, signaling a full limit reached.
Watching this, the golem awkwardly scratched his round scalp.
“Dear, oh dear… The competition is insane. Rebirth really is getting harder.”
I wholeheartedly agreed with that.
As I stared, the frog-man, the turtle-man, and I fell into a momentary silence, gazing toward the vanished gate.
In front of the gate’s remnants, those who hadn’t made it in sat dejectedly, their despair evident.
“NOOOO! This was the time! I could’ve made it this time! Just one step faster!”
Among them, a particularly emotional youth wailed loudly, his cries echoing through the dark square. We naturally turned our attention to him.
He was short and small, his stature not even reaching my lower half, yet oddly, his whole body bulged with muscles that seemed ready to burst through his clothes.
Seeing this, both the frog and the turtle simultaneously gasped in recognition.
“Three times now, and we’ve all failed together.”
“I would’ve made it if you hadn’t blocked me again, Frog Man.”
“Nonsense! There were people ahead of you, even that little scrawny one over there who’s now crying.”
“Hmph….”
In the midst of the crowd’s temporary silence, a hollow laughter escaped me as I stared at the strange, somewhat-human figures around me.
“Haha… ha…”
The more I looked, the less real everything seemed.
And yet, my gut told me I had gotten myself into something* — something big.
I didn’t know what yet, but the sinking realization was sinking in hard.
‘Man… I’ve really gotten myself into a mess.’
